Think your popularity on Twitter and Facebook will help you land a job or score customers for your business? Think again. Brogan and Smith are best-selling authors and undisputed social-media experts — when they write a blog post, they get 40,000 “likes.” When they tweet, they get instant responses — and they explain how it’s not enough to merely have a lot of social-media friends and followers. To be truly useful and effective, your followers have to be engaged and responsive. They show you how to get such an audience, by developing trust and consistently delivering compelling, relevant information.

Crowely and Elster have written a field guide for coping with that menace common to both high school cafeterias and boardrooms: the mean girl. This smart, sometimes humorous book gives specific instructions on how to stay professional when things get personal. It teaches you to walk away instead of taking her bait, to set limits rather than exposing yourself, and to make a break for the gym when you feel like pulling her hair. And Crowley and Elster stress that mean girls aside, they truly believe that“women rock.”

“Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking,” by Susan Cain, Crown

Cain’s message to the 30 to 50 percent of the population who are, by nature, more quiet and pensive is that you don’t have to be a cocky loudmouth to make your mark. A Wall Street-attorney-turned-author, she uses her own personal history as an introvert, research from neuroscience and psychology and profiles of successful real-world introverts, like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, to drive home the point that you needn’t be an extrovert to get ahead.

In fact, introverts might have the advantage: It’s in their nature to think before they speak, to listen and gather information before making a decision and to build consensus rather than impose their will upon others.

“All Work, No Pay,” by Lauren Berger, Ten Speed Press/Random House

Berger participated in 15 internships during her four years of college at companies like MTV, FOX and NBC, so she knows a thing or three about getting a gig and making the most of it. She offers real-world advice on every step of the process, from identifying where you want to intern, to interviewing, to landing the gig, to meeting the “right” people on the job. She even has tips for what to wear to work, and she stresses the importance of talking with everyone you can; even big shots are often willing to sit down with interns if they’re smart enough to just request an informal informational interview.

Everyone wants to be valued, but many lack a clear understanding of what that requires. Often, it’s not about having a superhuman talent or making a huge, shining effort. Rather, it means having a clear understanding of what the other guy wants and then delivering on it. The Thompsons offer worksheets to help you align your goals with your work superiors and advise you to build a “Portfolio of Priorities” to insure that you’re on track.

“Taking People With You” by David Novak, Penguin

Whether you’re trying to lead a Fortune 500 company to record profits or coach a kids soccer team to a championship trophy, you can’t succeed on your own. Novak, the CEO of Yum! Brands (the company that owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut), stresses the importance of cultivating a talented team and retaining that talent by empowering others to contribute rather than barking orders. His advice is as applicable to shift managers as it is to members of the executive suite, and his real-world examples, like the great heights Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reached by working together, will make your jaw drop and bring tears to your eyes.

Benjamin, Yeager and Simon offer detailed advice for talking through issues in a manner that’s constructive and productive. By paying careful attention to how a problem is discussed and avoiding traps like leading questions (“Don’t you think we could use some help around the office?”) and negative predictions (“I know you’re going to say no, but . . . ”), colleagues can avoid heated arguments and communicate rationally to find solutions. Imagine that!

“Crazy Good Interviewing: How Acting a Little Crazy Can Get You the Job,” by John Molidor with Barbara Parus, John Wiley & Sons

Bookstore shelves are packed with interview guidebooks, but this one is special. Molidor, a professor of psychiatry, points out both crazy-bad interview behavior (like asking how stringent the company’s drug testing policy is) and crazy-good tactics (like showing up to the interview with a DVD highlighting your abilities). He urges readers to get out of their own heads and into the hiring manager’s and covers the ins and outs of different types of interviews, including those over Skype and FaceTime. In this day and age, a screen test and running your lines ahead of time are a must.

“Making Yourself Indispensable,” by Mark Samuel, Penguin Group

Samuel, a well-known management consultant, introduces readers to a “Wheel of Indispensability” that can be used to transform yourself into someone others simply can’t live without. One of the most important pieces of the pie, he says, is accountability. It’s not enough to simply say what you do, and do what you say, or to follow your job description to the letter. It’s about figuring out what really counts, delivering on it and then going a step further.

“I Want To Be Her!” by Andrea Linett with illustrations by Anne Johnston Albert, Abrams Image

Some people think that following your bliss is a luxury, Linett believes that our personal callings can’t be dismissed. The co-founder of Lucky magazine, she writes that “I’ve always known that I need to be in a field that was fast-paced and filled with glamour, fashion and fun — otherwise, what was the point?” Her memoir not only outlines how she went from a doodling 12-year-old to a high-powered fashionista, it’s also a powerful reminder of the importance of working to find a job that you’re truly passionate about.

It’s also be worth noting that the book is beautiful. Who would expect anything less?